The process of providing rehabilitative services and therapy to individuals with significant walking deficits and other physical impairments presents a challenge to even the most skilled therapists. For example, patients suffering from neurological injuries such as stroke, spinal cord injury, amputees, or traumatic brain injury often exhibit an inability to support themselves, poor endurance or walking patterns that are unstable. Such deficiencies make it difficult, at best, for the patient and therapist to engage in particular exercises, therapies, etc. Accordingly, it is increasingly common for such therapies to involve some sort of body-weight support system to reduce the likelihood of falls or other injuries, while enabling increased intensity or duration of the training or therapy.
Some existing support systems obstruct a therapist's interaction with the patient, by presenting barriers between the patient and the therapist. Furthermore, existing harness systems present problems when they slip or “ride-up” the patient's torso. Some harnesses also present a problem when trying to put them on to patients—particularly patients that may be seated. In light of the current harness systems there is a need for an improved harness system that overcomes the limitations characterized above.
Patient discomfort while wearing a rehabilitation harness can be a barrier for many therapists to use body weight support and fall protection systems. Impingement of harness straps into the groin and axilla can make it difficult for patients to focus on their form, and challenging for therapists to encourage intensity during functional tasks. The need for a second set of hands or additional time to properly place harnesses can result in the loss of valuable therapy treatment minutes. The disclosed body harness embodiments provide a solution that addresses traditional harness ‘pain points’ and enables patients and similar users to comfortably and safely practice gait, balance and fall management exercises.
Disclosed in embodiments herein is a harness for supporting a person engaged in a weight-bearing therapy, comprising: an adjustable abdominal support around the torso of the person, said support being located generally below the sternum; a pair of straps, said straps extending downward along the front of the person's torso to the abdominal support, said straps combining in the rear and extending along the back of the person's torso to the abdominal support; an adjustable, padded chest strap operatively connected to said straps and/or said abdominal support; and leg support (e.g., separate leg bands or shorts), releasably suspended from said abdominal support.
Also disclosed in embodiments herein is a body harness, comprising: a torso support unit including a padded posterior column, an adjustable abdominal support adapted to be placed around a torso of a user, at a location generally below a user's sternum, said abdominal support including an adjustable waistband operatively connected to said posterior column with padded waistband ends where one waistband end may be placed in overlapping contact with an opposite waistband end for securing using a hook-and-loop fastening system, said waistband further including at least one secondary waistband encompassing at least part of the adjustable waistband for further cinching the adjustable waistband, an adjustable chest band operatively connected to said posterior column above the waistband, said chest band including chest band ends where one chest band end may be placed in overlapping contact with an opposite chest band end for securing using a hook-and-loop fastening system, said chest band further including at least one secondary chest band encompassing at least part of the chest band for further cinching the chest band; at least one leg support, releasably suspended from said torso support unit; and a pair of support straps each operatively coupled at a first end to the torso support unit adjacent the top of the padded posterior column, and each releasably coupled at a second end to the torso support unit a location on each of the respective waistband ends.
The various embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the disclosure to those embodiments described. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the various embodiments and equivalents set forth. For a general understanding, reference is made to the drawings. In the drawings, like references have been used throughout to designate identical or similar elements. It is also noted that the drawings may not have been drawn to scale and that certain regions may have been purposely drawn disproportionately so that the features and aspects could be properly depicted.